Holly Belle...a dog like no other.

It's a sad day in the world, but a great day in doggy heaven. The best dog I've ever known, my parents' beloved black lab, Holly Belle, is being put to rest. She has been a loyal friend and has brought joy to all of our lives. There's not much to say other than if you knew her, you know how much she was a part of our family. She will forever be loved and missed.

Holly, I'm so happy that your pain is gone and that are in a place where you can play fetch, swim in the lake, and jump up on the bed again.

I love you, girl.

Bittersweet

Some of my Hurricane Creek family took me out to dinner at Juanita's downtown last week. As my days with these sweet folks begin slipping away, I realize more than ever how much they are a part of my life, and how much I will miss them dearly. They've all made a special mark on my heart and will always be with me.

"Even though we all change and find our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or a smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not still friends."

A man after my heart

I had an awful day yesterday. It was just one of those days where anything that could go wrong, did. I woke up late, my schedule was off at school, and things didn't go as planned (which irritates my perfectionist personality). On top of that, we also had our school carnival after school, and I wasn't happy with my booth (there goes the perfectionist personality again).

I decided to run up the street to Sonic, to get a junior burger with ketchup only and a large cherry Sprite, before the carnival, knowing I was going to be working my booth most of the night and not have moment to eat. I was going to call Dustin on the way, until I realized I didn't have my phone (left it setting on the hamper since I was in a rush from being late that morning). You know when you just are having a bad day and you can't wait to tell your mama or husband about it? Ugh! So frustrating when you can't!

I got back to school, finished setting up my booth, and was so happy to finally sit down and satisfy my growling tummy. The burger I found with chili smothered over it really ticked me off, and the receipt showing my debit card was charged for the chili burger (who eats that?!?!), large fry, and Route 44 sent me over the edge.

I go downstairs to borrow my buddy's phone to call Dustin and ask him what time he'll be at the carnival...and he says he doesn't want to come. (SCREAM!) That was the one thing that was going to make this 13 hour work day better....seeing my husband and venting about my awful day. Of coarse, he didn't know I had an awful day, but I'm sure he inferred that with the speech I gave him when he said he wasn't coming. :)

Anyways, I was pretty ticked at him for backing out. There was a tornado warning during the carnival and my parent volunteers got spooked and left....leaving me to work my booth even longer...on my own. Let me tell ya, Ping Pong Ball Toss requires a lot of fetching balls and bending over, and trying to be encouraging and cheerful for the kids was torturous due to my foul mood. Needless to say, I got the heck outta dodge as soon as the carnival was ending and headed home...

...to this.

Dustin had gone grocery shopping for me and while he was there, picked me up a 72 pack of Air Heads (my fav!) along with a sweet card. See the pic on the card? I'm the dog...he's the cat. Kinda perfect since I was biting his head off earlier.

So the night ended peacefully with me eating Air Heads (quantity unknown) in a bubble bath.

Smart man, that Dustoni.

BTW - Air Heads are not a good substitute for dinner. Despite eating a granola bar and sipping some OJ before my 5K this morning, I started cramping, got tunnel vision for a few seconds, and had to stop running and stretch my muscles until my vision returned. Needless to say, my time wasn't my best. I just maintained my previous 32:change time.

Well....

The principal has called. The offer has been made. But the details shall remain secretive until the board approves the hire. Duh. I ain't stoopid y'all.

I was pretty worried about this here little interview, let me tell ya. My interview was at 2:00 and I arrived in Fort Smith at approximately 10:30. I was suppose to pick Dustin's sister, Nicole, who's the secretary at another elementary in the district, at 11:30...so I just sat in the parking lot until then. I have this phobia of being late, so throw a big important event in there and I just become certifiably anal.

I took her back to work at 12:30...she gave me a little tour of her school (thanks for helping me kill time and calming my nerves, Nicole), and then drove straight to the school I was interviewing at and had a little panic attack there before I went in.

The interview lasted about 30 minutes, although it seemed to last about 2 minutes in my head. I rambled...a lot. It's what I do. I talked with my shaky hands. And I think I even let my silly little giggle go a couple of times.

Ah well. I guess it worked!! So glad the job search is over with and that is one less thing we have to worry about.

Now on to getting the house sold!

Why would I wear a turtleneck on May 17th???

Because I have a job interview today!!

Those of you that know me best know that I get hives...major hives...due to any sort of anxiousness, anger, or sadness. I'm wearing my interviewing uniform today - my go to 3/4 length black turtleneck, of course!

Why a turtleneck you ask? Why not a high cut blouse of some sort? Because my hives will not only cover my chest and upper arms, but my neck and cheeks as well. I'd just wear a bag over my head, but that might send the wrong message (pssyyycho).

I'm trying to make this my mantra for today, but my subconscience keeps wiggin' out and saying, "What the $%*@ ever!"

Wish me luck, friends.

FINALLY!

You know that saying, "To the world, you are just one person...but to one person, you just might be the world?" Well these shutters might be just shutters to you, but to me...they are the world. I've been wanting to put some board and batten shutters on our front windows since last summer. The timeline of my begging, pleading, demanding went a little something like this...

June-September 2010

Me begging for Dustin to build shutters. Dustin saying we can just buy some already made. Me arguing how cheap you could build them (and get such a dramatic change) and giving Dustin the "you can do it!"

October -December 2010

Me hinting around to how good shutters would look on the house. Me telling Dustin I could do it myself, and getting the look.

January-March 2011

Me whining to telling Dustin's dad, Corky, that I reeeeaaaaly want some shutters (he has this saying "Whatever Carly wants, Carly gets..." He's a good man that Corky.), and hinting that maybe they could build them together! You know...father/son bonding time and whatnot.

March 2011

Dustin hangs out with his Dad one Saturday afternoon while I am at a shower and BAM!

The shutters were BUILT! HALLELUJAH! They were tangible and everything!

But they were in Ft. Smith...and they wouldn't fit in the Yukon with the humongo dog we have, all of his humongo crap, and all of our crap.

April 2011

Still can't get the shutters home. Every time we are in town, we have the humongo dog with us who takes up the whole humongo Yukon.

May 2011

We finally get smart, suck it up, and drive separate cars to the Fort to pick get the shutters....but they still need to be stained. So they sit...in the garage.

We make the decision that we are moving to Fort Smith.

Hmm...a tid bit ironic, don't ya think????

Weekend of May14-15

The shutters are stained and put on the house! ...and there is a for sale sign in the yard.

Ah, well....at least I get to enjoy them another 3 weeks!

Thanks, honey!

(for nothing)

Just kidding...love you!! :)

Poor guy has to listen to me moan and groan a lot. It can't be easy.

Faytown

D and I headed to NWAR last weekend. I left right after school to make it to Fort Smith on Friday night in time to take my mom out to eat at Fuji's Japanese steakhouse with Tiffany and Addi for Mother's Day. The food was delicious and I stuffed myself big time.

Then, Saturday morning we headed to Fayetteville to hang out with our buddies Hayley and Andy. The boys hung out and drank beer at Felton's while Hayley and I shopped around a bit. Then we headed to the Razorback baseball game. They had already beaten FL twice, so we were hoping for a sweep, but we brought no such luck.

Hayley and I....we did not plan the matching shirts, sunglasses, and hair - promise.

We are just dorks like that.

Me and my hottie hubs

Andy and Hayley

Oh...and we stopped at Slim Chicken's on the way to the game. MmMmMmMm!!!

We had a good time hanging out with good friends and seeing how much Fayetteville has changed since we've lived there. Every time I go up there, it just amazes me how much that area is still growing! Going to the baseball game also made me miss going to watch my brother play when he was up there. It sure makes me wish I hadn't taken those days for granted.

$5K for the 5K - Dash for a Difference

Sorry it has been awhile since my last post. In addition to beginning to pack, job hunting, and constantly cleaning house just in case it shows (it hasn't), something weird was going on with blogger. So, you see, I have excuses.

I've ran my 2nd 5K since I last was on here. It was a race my school district put on to benefit the Rotary Kid's Kloset. They raised over $5,000! Like I've said, I am no runner, so you won't be impressed with my time, but I was impressed with myself. I just wanted to be my time from my first 5K, which was 33:54. This time I ran 32:18, which is a little over a 10 minute mile average! I so thought I was going to get it in under 31 minutes, but there was a hill that was for.e.ver long!! No joke. I did successfully run up the whole thing, but I had to walk a minute after I did...I was feeling a wee bit faint.

I've signed up for my next race. The Dino Dash, benefiting Little Rock's Discovery Museum, is next weekend and I'm running in it with my literacy specialist, Paula, who ran with me in this last one. I just want to get my time under 31 minutes this time. We shall see!

The hubs met me at the end of the race and took a few pictures.

Crawfish Benefit

I forgot to blog about this, but last Saturday, Dustin and I headed downtown to the Rivermarket to a crawfish boil sponsored by The Hat Club benefiting Big Brothers and Big Sisters. There was a really good turnout and it was good to get out of the house and have a fun date night.

My honey and I

crawfish races

Each crawfish had a fun name, like Kim Crawdashian, Kurt Crawbain, Night Crawler, etc.

Me and a crawfish I named "Crawly"

Carly <3s Crawly

Bark in the Park!

Of course we headed out to Dickey Stephens Field for Bark in the Park last week. Duke loved it so much last year, how could we have neglected to go?!

One of the only times this little boy sat down.

Duke made friends with this English Mastiff. She was a big ole baby.

This was the puppy parade that took place before the game. We got there right as it was starting. I was bummed we missed walking in it, but I don't think Dustin was too disappointed. ;)

Lots of passerby's got a kick out of this.

Look at that teeny tiny dog!!

Another Dane sat by us. His name was Bruce Wayne, he was Duke's age, and he liked to sit on laps too.

Duke and his daddy

Duke and his mommy

As you can see, we had a tail wagging time.

Family Easter

We had Easter linner (lunch-dinner) at Amber and John's on Easter Sunday. Other than a few sprinkles, the rain held off for us to be outdoors. The kiddos had a great time hunting Easter eggs and we had a great time visiting with the whole family together. That seems to happen less and less these days as our families keep growing and getting busier and busier. We really do cherish these times.

Here's a few pics of our nieces, Morgan, Emilee, and Braelyn, and our nephew, Drew, hunting Easter eggs. By the way, D and I had way too much fun hiding Easter eggs....and the Easter loot was out of control!